The Luckiest
by witchling
Summary: Alec is in love. Max thinks he's crazy. Just what is a poor little supersoldier to do?
1. Chapter 1

**The Luckiest **

A/N: This is a song fic, but done in a rather unconventional way, if I do say so myself. The lyrics are right in the text of the story (the bold italics). Some are thoughts, speech, sometimes even split up into a part of a sentence etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this format/story. Is it annoying? Personally, I'm torn. It amused me at the time though. The song is "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds Five. And neither it, nor the characters belong to me. Only my twisted little imagination does.

Summary: Alec is in love. Max thinks he's crazy. Just what is a poor little super soldier to do?

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**_I don't get many things right the first time. In fact, I am told that a lot._** Mostly by her royal bitchyness herself. His Maxie certainly wasn't the type to let you get away with anything. But this, he had to get right. HAD to. It would be very humiliating not to get this right. Ordinaries do it all the time. It shouldn't be hard for him. Sure, it's throwing him off a little now, but It had to be worth it in the end. Right? If only I don't screw up. Again. For a while there he'd been happy with his situation in life but not at this moment. Not now. **_Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls brought me here._** And Alec would have given pretty much anything, to anyone, if he didn't have to be here.

Alec was frustrated. He had been for a week now. It was distracting. In fact, it was so distracting that people were starting to notice. He had recently decided he was going to do something about it. He was going to tell Max that he was in love with her. So, now he was rehearsing. Alec was well-aware of his tendency to go about thing in an… odd way, so he figured this was one thing he needed to get just right. He had already dismissed the 'hey Max, how's Logan? By the way, I'm in love with you' and the 'Max please don't kill me but I love you.' Now he was going for the romantic thing. Girls like romance. Right?

He needed a flowery phrase, full of … whatever the hell flowery phrases were full of. '**_And where was I before the day that I first saw your lovely face?_**' Lovely? Perhaps his unintentional emotional state had begun to rot his brain. There was nothing 'lovely' about Max. 'Lovely' is delicate, soft, pretty. Max is none of those things. She's hot. Sexy. Passionate. Brash. Sarcastic. Furious. Dangerous. Sometimes she's even ruthless. There is no room for 'lovely' in Max. 'Where was I before the day that I first saw your beautiful face?' Striking? Gorgeous? Whatever. '**_Now I see it every day._**' Alec swore to his adopted deity of choice. Oh for the love of the Blue Lady, that's lame. Where was I? Manticore. Not exactly high on the romance scale. In fact that's where I was that day Max, the day I tired to make you 'copulate' with me under orders. Nice.

Alec sighed and ran his hand through his hair. This was not something he was good at. Give him a gun and a running target 700m away and he'd be happy. Give him a hand grenade and 10 seconds to escape the blast radius and he'd be dancing. Give him a garrote and an unsuspecting victim and he could go to town, but expecting him to be able to communicate his feelings for a certain fiery brunette was just too much. He'd rather be back in Manticore. But, he thought, I promised myself that I would do this. So I will. Even if I know that nothing good will come of it. **_And I know that I_ _am_** a dead man and **_I am_** in for one hell of an ass kicking and **_I am the luckiest_** Son of a Bitch alive, if I escape this unscathed.


	2. Chapter 2

"**_What_** **_if I'd been born fifty years before you, in a house on a street where you lived?_**" Max paused. The question had taken her by surprise. What the hell was Alec up to now?

"Uh. I wouldn't have to threaten to kick your ass on a daily basis?" She wasn't sure that that was the proper response, but then again it wasn't really a proper question so she supposed she shouldn't be bothered. Still something in his voice told her this was important. Important in a way not relating to transgenics because 1, he wouldn't be so damn vague and 2, they were in the middle of Jam Pony. She did not have time for this. Whatever this was.

"Max, just this once let me finish." He glared at her.

"**_Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike. Would I know?_**" If it hadn't been so serious, the face on Max would've been hilarious, all scrunched up and confused-like. Alec shook the errant thought from his brain.

Max was so lost it wasn't even funny. He'd been acting strange for a while now, avoiding her at times, snapping at busty girls and being uncharacteristically quiet. He had even crashed his bike a few days ago. She was beginning to suspect his genetics had caught up with him and was mentally plotting to get him to see Dr. Carr.

"Know what?" Alec froze. Okay. That required an answer. An answer he couldn't possibly give. He sounded stupid enough already for one attempt. Maybe he'd try again later.

"Uh. Nevermind. I've got uh.." Alec's mind went blank. Damn it. Maybe he wouldn't try again at all. Ever.

"Hot run to Sector 9!" Normal cried out at them, hoping one of the deadbeats he hired would attempt to make it look like they were working. As far as Alec was concerned, Normal was now his hero. For the day. Any more than that would get creepy. Quickly.

"I've got a hot run to sector 9! See you at Crash!" He shouted triumphantly. He promptly tore out of the building and Max was left to stare stupidly after him. After a few minutes of being acting like a dumbfounded idiot Max walked over to her locker in a daze. OC was there looking concerned.

"What's wrong with your boy Boo?"

"I dunno what his dealio is. He just came up to me spouting off about if he were born 50 years before me and me riding my bike down his street and knowing and... I dunno." Max snorted; no doubt OC looked as shocked she had a few minutes ago. Man she had looked stupid.

"_What?_"

"I know." Max paused before adding quietly, "I think I'm gonna take him to see Dr. Carr."


	3. Chapter 3

Alec walked into Crash, scanning the many faces for the one he wanted to see. **_And in a wide sea of eyes, I see one pair that I recognize._** I would recognize those beautiful brown eyes anywhere, he thought. **_And I know that_** that was quite possibly the sappiest thing to ever enter my brain. Just then, Max looked up and directly at him. Attempting to pretend he wasn't staring so as not to give the game away before he actually got up the nerve to tell her he inelegantly tripped.

"Alec! Are you okay?" She called to him, weaving her way through the crowd. It warmed his heart to hear the worry in her voice. Max was worried. This was not like him at all. After witnessing his stumble first hand, she now had no doubts that what she was about to do was for the best. Luckily for her and not so luckily for him, he was so busy having his heart warmed that he failed to notice that the worry was coupled with a suspicious amount of sneakiness.

"**_I am_** fine Max." He assured her. He looked like a little boy who had gotten caught with an extra cookie. He knew that but damn it! It was just too hard to school his features into an expression projecting manly confidence at this point.

"You sure? You know you can tell me if there's anything wrong." She sounded like she doubted his 'I am fine'. He couldn't really blame her; he had been acting awkward lately.

"I'm sure. **_I am_** great! Nope, nothing's wrong here!" Alec cringed. Perhaps that was a bit overenthusiastic. And sure enough, the way Max was scrutinizing him proved that she didn't buy his response for a minute. Normally he would enjoy Max checking out his body, but something told him, it could be the 'you've lost it' vibe that she was sending out, that this was not the way he wanted her to check him out.

"Well… that's good. Uh" She hesitated. "Let's take my bike and go check up on TC. Sound good?" He might have objected to her tone of voice, but the fact that her hand was still on his arm gave him hope. It gave him enough hope that he surreptitiously slipped his arm around her shoulders. She didn't shrug him off, or hit him. Alec was ecstatic.

"Yeah Maxie, great!" Enough with the 'great's you friggin' moron! Oddly enough, his strange demeanor didn't seem to set off any alarm bells in Max. Nor did the arm-around-the-shoulder bit. It was still there. He was thinking of choosing today as his birthday.

"Uh. Yeah. Great. We just have one little errand to run first." Alec smiled.

"Anything for you Maxie." She smiled back at him. It was the tender, caring smile you gave a loved one. His heart skipped a beat. A loved one that had been off their 'special' meds for a week and were holding a cleaver. Alec frowned. Odd. Meh. She was voluntarily touching him and they were leaving Crash together. Weird looks aside, Alec figured life was good. Leaving Crash with his arm around Max's shoulder and not in great pain, he was delighted. Maybe things are looking up. Maybe she'll be glad to hear my confession. Maybe **_I am the luckiest_** non-human on this planet.


	4. Chapter 4

I am an idiot. I can't believe that this could possibly happen. Of all the stupid things… Alec silently fumed. He was sitting on an examining table in Dr. Carr's office. 'One little errand' she says. One little errand my ass! And why the hell do doctors always use those stupid tongue depressors?! Dr. Carr had been treating him like a slow child for the past ten minutes and Alec was in no position to tell him that it was unnecessary. Max had called ahead to make the appointment. She explained that it was possible he was going crazy. Insanity did run in the family, though she didn't use those words he knew what she meant. He frowned. He had of course objected to this situation. And then she had threatened him with the ass-kicking of a lifetime if he attempted to leave the room before both she and Dr. Carr were satisfied as to his health. Damn it! Now they were both studying him intensely. And Dr. Carr had a needle precariously close to his arm and if he didn't come up with something to convince them that he was fine very, very soon, he was going to be one unhappy transgenic.

Max was looking at him like she cared, like maybe she'd be receptive to his little speech. But, given the givens, it had to be a very good little speech. Something to make her melt, it had to be something to make her unable to reject him or laugh at him or… or hit him or anything else that he was expecting. '**_I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you._**' Yeah. That would do. It was sweet, romantic and would get him out of having to give the doctor a blood sample to somehow prove he wasn't going batty. Unfortunately, that isn't what popped out of Alec's mouth when he opened it.

"**_Next door there's an old man who lived to his_ _nineties_ _and one day passed away in his sleep_**" Max gave him an incredulous look. Clearly he was not explaining himself properly. Again. He cleared his throat.

"**_His wife, she stayed for a couple of days and passed away._**" If he wasn't so damn petrified the situation would be comical. But he was. So it wasn't. Max arched an eyebrow. She was, perhaps, expecting some kind of explanation. Not to mention the weird looks Dr. Carr was shooting him. Or maybe they would be satisfied with a point to this whole rambling story. He wasn't going insane. He wasn't. Was he? That would explain…

"In conclusion…?" Max prompted. She had never seen him trip so badly over his words. Before today, she'd never seen him trip over his words at all. He was always the smooth Smart-Alec she named him for. Whatever it was that was wrong with him, it must be bad. Alec said nothing. Dr. Carr continued to stare quizzically. Max was back to being irritated. At least that beat her being quietly concerned for his mental health. The silence last 1.27 minutes.

"See?! He's been doing this all day! And he's been acting really weird for at least a week now!" She yelled, exasperated. Alec grimaced. She'd moved on to being not-so-quietly concerned for his mental health.

"Alright," Dr. Carr started, he moved forward and brought out the needle again. This was not good. "We'll take a basic blood sample. And if I can find nothing wrong there, we'll set up an MRI." Dr. Carr turned towards Alec and directed the next statement to him. "Max told me that you'd crashed your bike earlier in the week maybe you've bumped your head. This could all just be temporary confusion due to a concussion. But it's been a while, especially with your special healing abilities, so I would recommend a full work-up."

It irked Alec that Dr. Carr was talking to him like a child. He did NOT bump his head. He was just… terrified… of a girl. Ouch. This was really not the mood he was going for, but they wouldn't let him leave until they'd sorted out what was wrong with him and that was just going to get more and more awkward. So he turned to face Max and smiled sheepishly.

"**_I'm sorry. I know that's a… strange… way to tell you_**…" Silence.

"Tell me what Alec?" Her voice was so soft, caring that he couldn't force the words out between his teeth. His mind raged at him. '**_That I know we belong_**!' His lips still stubbornly refused to cooperate. She put her hand on his shoulder and wondered why he looked so frightened. He looked completely scared stiff. And then… disaster.

"In conclusion, I am in love with you!" He was sooo never attempting to tell a woman he loved her again.


	5. Chapter 5

Alec chuckled to himself. Declaring his love for a woman, while said woman was having him checked out by a doctor for psychological problems was probably something only he had been stupid enough to do. Luckily for him, he was a genetically engineered super-soldier who could pull off anything. But he would be avoiding Dr. Carr in the future. It was just plain rude to start laughing hard enough to cause hyperventilating while someone was declaring their love for someone else. Even if it was done in an 'unfortunate' manner. Alec had been quite indignant at the time.

Max sat up and turned to him. "Alec. You have that face again."

"What face?" He asked innocently. He wrapped his arms around her waist and catapulted them both so that they were sprawled out on his bed. She was beneath him and he slid one arm out from under her and brought it to her face.

"The face that says if you don't tell me what you're thinking I may just have to drag you to Dr. Carr's again." She chuckled to herself but smoothed her face into an angelic expression when he frowned at her touchily. Her eyes closed as he brought the pads of his finger to sweep over her eyelids. Then he caressed her eyebrows, her forehead, her cheeks and her lips. Her eyes shot open as he gently touched his lips to the tip of her nose.

"It's just that…" He sighed and buried his head into the curve of her neck. Her hair tickled his face, but it was nice. Comforting. He was oh so very bad at this 'talking' stuff. "**_That I know that I am_**..." He swallowed.

"**_I am_**…?" She questioned him sincerely. She took her hand and ran it through his hair. It had surprised her, how utterly perfectly they fit together. But she knew that it would be far from perfect. What fun would that be anyway? Alec felt her smile into his neck. This still felt too good to be true, like a fluke, like it could be snatched away from him at any moment. And yet, it was the most whole he had ever felt in his life.

"**_I am…the luckiest._**"

The End

A/N: So… You like?? It was fun to write and I hope you found it funny. Please review. Thanks. Oh, and I just couldn't help myself with the sap at the end. It was supposed to be a cliffhanger, but I felt that was a bit mean.


End file.
